Vego Friendly

Raven’s Eye verdict: 9/10

Beef Burger: 9.3/10

Vegetarian Burger: 8.5/10

Sides: 8/10

So why Raven’s Eye?

She says:Two reasons. Firstly, it is so close to my house, and any new Newtown small bar is worth checking out, particularly in these times where Newtown slowly morphs into old Kings Cross at about 10:30 each night. Secondly (and this is the FULL DISCLOSURE bit) He has a friend (a good man) who has something to do with this joint. Actually also a third reason is that we saw them bringing in a whole tray of perfectly soft milk buns one day and from then on the writing was on the wall.

He says:This place is conveniently located around the corner from the gorgeous She’s house and after watching a friend devour one of their, what looked to be amazing, cheeseburgers a few weeks prior we knew we needed to give this a go pronto. Full disclosure I also have a mate who is somehow involved on a minor scale at this place as well.

What did you order?

Royale With Cheese – $10

Vegetarian Burger- $10

Popcorn Prawns – $8

Mac’n’cini Balls- $10

Tell us about the Royale with Cheese burger?

He says: Wowzers. This is fantastic. A thick, juicy, perfectly medium rare pink patty sit in a bun so soft it seems steamed with a whole heap of American cheese and mustard. When you’re patty, bun, cheese, and sauce combo are this good the addition of any other ingredients would be superfluous. Mary’s better watch its back as there’s a serious new challenger to the Newtown Burger throne.

She says:BOOM. Great burger. Soft bun. Meaty, well cooked, good quality meat. Mustard and perfectly melted cheese. Hit every note well. This is a burger I would go back for many many times (if I had time between trying all these other new burgers in order to bring you the latest and greatest… Who am I kidding, bring on summer and I will be having a Bloody Mary in my back yard and one of these little beauties every second weekend..actually, I am not sure whether they take away. Loyal reader – please investigate and report back).

So then, how did you find the Vegetarian Burger?

He says: The idea of a tempeh patty on a burger inspires a deep dread within me but this was a very pleasant surprise. The temepeh is actually flavourful and delicious and when linked with a delightful pickled cabbage slaw and bang on chipotle mayo we have arguably my favourite vegetarian burger in OBM’s history.

She says:Who could have guessed that a tempeh burger (and yes I did need to see what He wrote it to check the spelling) could taste so good. I don’t think the photo does this one justice, it was way better than it looks here! Also – these burgers were both $10 WITH fries. that is almost unheard of these days. If they can mate a vego treat like this work so well, I would love to see what they did with a fried chicken burger… would be keen to try it!

And what about the sides?

He says:The Mac’ n’ cini’ balls were rich addictive balls which oozed gorgeous gooey cheese and tasty chunks of pig’s head. The smoked tomato jam brought the whole thing together and almost threatened to steal the show on its own. The popcorn school prawns were solid but raised to another level when coated in a delightful arrabiata mayo. Said mayo was also a hit with the fries which had a delightful seasoning spread on top. Overall a top meal which was also incredibly well priced.

She says:Mac and cheese in all its forms is always a favorite with me. And here – with the smokey tomato sauce – wow – another dish that really delivered. The balls were cheesy and delicious. The prawns were also good. And another great maker of maccas style fries, thin and crispy with just a bit of soft in the middle and a good pinch of salt and seasoning.

Lord of the Fries verdict: 6.5/10

Vegetarian Beef Burger: 5/10

Vegetarian Chicken Burger: 5/10

Sides: 8/10

So why Lord of the Fries?

She says:They gave us free burgers!! For real. First place to send us an email (bar a mega chain that shall remain nameless who invited us to build our own burger. We missed it because we missed the email, not because of our moral standpoint on such things). Also, we do get a bit of flack from various vegetarian friends about not including enough veggie burgers, so we thought this might serve to silence them.

He says:In perhaps the greatest moment in OBM’s history we were approached to test out Lord of Fries new shop and menu in Sydney’s Central Station. This of course means we’ve hit the big time as these little puppies were free! It sparked a valid debate with She regarding our belief that we should act with integrity by rendering honesty with our opinions of the burgers paramount even if they aren’t independently paid for. Considering the entire menu is vegetarian (mock pattys etc) I wasn’t sure what to expect from Lord of the Fries with my only other experience with them being a drunken visit in Melbourne a few years ago.

What did you order?

Original Burger – $7.95

Parma Burger- $7.95

Nuggets and Onion Rings – $9.95

Shoestring Fries (with Parisian sauce) – $4.95 (sauce: $0.75)

Sweet Potato Fries – $4.95

Classic Fries French Canadian Style – $4.95 (sauce: $1.25)

Tell us about the Original Burger?

He says: It’s hard to work out whether I should rate this on it’s merits alone against a ‘normal’ burger or take strongly into account that it is vegetarian with a faux patty that I wouldn’t ever normally order. For what it was it was perfectly decent – the patty had a distinct bean like texture though and although it never fooled me for being meat it did compliment a burger that had a typical American style (cheese, pickles, onion, mustard, mayo ketchup) about it that you don’t often see with vegetarian burgers. I imagine this would be quite the treat if you were a vego craving a fast food fix.

She says: If I was a drunk, vegetarian whose will was being gradually weakened by the idea of a late night beef burger from the local fast food counter, this burger would draw me back to the vego side and show me that there were ways to live the life I chose. It has a junk food vibe (not high quality junk like Mary’s or The Old Growler, just junk food like actual $5 late night, gutter side chow down) and for that purpose I think it does its job, and it’s on that basis that I am reviewing it. It just doesn’t compare to real so I am not going to try.

So then, how did you find the Parma Burger?

She says:Another burger that tasted like a pizza – I feel like that has been happening a lot lately. I wasn’t as keen on this one as I was on the first. Again it was junk food, but it needed something more to cut through the salty garlic tomato sauce, and the soy bacon was just tangible weirdness. He liked this burger more than me but I don’t love pizza so maybe that’s why. If your a vego – go the Original.

He says:We both agreed pretty much simultaneously that this tasted a whole lot like Dominoes pizza (which wasn’t such a bad thing in my book). Unlike She I enjoyed this more than it’s (mock) beef counterpart and thought the soy bacon was a star. Would have loved some mayo on here, the bun could have been a little softer and although I can’t see myself dabbling with this again anytime soon I am glad I gave it a go and would happily recommend it to those few herbivores I know.

And what about the sides?

She says: The chips are the star at this joint (as probably should be clear by the name). Top points for both variety of chip and sauce. My favourite had to be the poutine – the ‘gravy’ had that guilty pleasure, RSL gravy vibe and the chips were fat and juicy. The sweet potato were also a winner because salty sweet is always nice. The Parisian – which was essentially a garlic aioli – was good but outshone by its chip cousins. He was totally blown away by how much the fake chicken nuggets tasted just like chicken (!!) which was pretty fun to watch.

He says:There were some cracking sides here. The nuggets were delicious and really did taste like chicken. The fries, in all their incarnations, were across the board delicious with a special shout out to the French Canadian style (which was their version of poutine) and the Parisian sauce that came with the perfectly cooked shoestring fries. Safe to say I’d happily return at some point for another chip feast.

Note: As mentioned these foods were given to us on the house (for real!!) but burger fans, while they can buy our burgers they can’t buy our hearts and minds. Everything we tell you is our opinion and not that of the lovely people willing to generously provide food for us to smoosh down our faces.

A Note on Our Verdicts

We try and sample a beef burger, a non-beef burger and a side. We score each out of 10 and then give a final verdict. For our final verdict, we take into account where we think the restaurant should sit on our Leader Board, which is why sometimes the verdict isn't exactly the average of the three, scores.